What Range This Port Belongs To
Port 3150 is a registered port — in the range 1024 to 49151 managed by IANA. Registered ports are meant to be claimed by specific services that apply for an official assignment, separating them from the chaotic ephemeral range (49152+) and the tightly controlled well-known range (0-1023).
IANA lists port 3150 as assigned to "NetMike Assessor Administrator" on both TCP and UDP.1 In practice, this service has an almost invisible footprint. No widely-used software, no active community, no meaningful documentation outside the IANA registry entry itself. It holds the assignment, but the port operates like an unassigned one in the real world.
The Trojan That Left a Mark
Port 3150's most documented use is from the other direction entirely: malware.
In October 1999, a programmer operating under the handle ^Cold^ released a Windows 95/98 remote-access trojan called Deep Throat. It belonged to the same family of "rat" tools as the era's infamous Back Orifice and NetBus — software that let an attacker take quiet control of a victim's machine over a network connection.
Deep Throat used UDP ports 2140 and 3150 for command-and-control by default.2 The attacker's client program ("Deep Throat Remote Control") could capture screenshots, run arbitrary programs on the target system, and operate invisibly. By version 3.1, it was a reasonably capable tool for 1999 standards.
The malware is ancient history — Windows 98 hasn't been a target since the early 2000s — but port 3150's association with Deep Throat is still documented in old Snort rules and security databases. Other lesser-known trojans from the same era, including "The Invasor" and "Foreplay," also listed this port.3
None of these represent an active threat today. They're fossils. But they explain why older network security scanners flag port 3150 with a warning.
Other Observed Uses
Rainbow Six Vegas (the 2006 game) used a UDP port range of 3074–3174 for multiplayer, which includes 3150.4 This is typical of games claiming a wide range rather than a precise port.
Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager has been reported using this port for client communication in some configurations, though this is not universally documented.5
How to Check What's Listening on This Port
If you see activity on port 3150 and want to know what process owns it:
macOS / Linux:
Windows:
The final column is the process ID. Cross-reference it with Task Manager or:
On modern systems, an unexpected listener on port 3150 is almost certainly benign — a local application that happened to grab this port, not a 25-year-old Windows trojan. But unknown listeners are always worth identifying.
Why Unassigned-in-Practice Ports Matter
The registered port range has 48,128 slots. IANA manages assignments carefully, but real-world software doesn't always respect the registry. Applications grab available ports opportunistically. Registered names become dormant when the products behind them disappear.
Port 3150 illustrates the gap between the registry and reality: technically assigned, practically unclaimed, historically associated with something that has nothing to do with the official assignment. This is common. The registry reflects intent; a packet capture reflects truth.
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